JoEllen Ambrose: As a teacher, I would hope
to model some of the democratic values that I’m teaching. The
way the class is organized, or at least in the environment of the classroom,
I try to nurture some of those values. For example, I think it’s
very important that students have some ownership in the class itself.
They don’t need to look to me for all the answers or even all
the structure. It’s helpful to open it up and say, “What
topics would you like to learn?” because there are a variety of
different things we can look at. I’m certainly not telling them
they can define the curriculum completely, but I’m allowing them
to exercise some choice. The second thing I really appreciate is helping
kids feel comfortable
expressing viewpoints. They’re not going to hear me say, “Oh,
that’s wrong. You can’t say that.” There will be an
affirmation of their right to give an opinion. There will also be an
important
[value] that we respect each other, but at the same time, we have to
look at ourselves as individuals and support each other in that way.